“OH BABY, YOU… YOU GOT WHAT I NEED!” Though his “Just a Friend” first hit the airwaves in 1989, to this day people love shouting along with BIZ MARKIE (Marcel Theo Hall, born 1964), the Clown Prince of Hip Hop. After getting his start beatboxing on Roxanne Shante’s “Def Fresh Crew” in 1986, and releasing his own debut single (“Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz”) the same year, then cracking the Top 10 chart with “Just a Friend,” it seemed like Biz was on the rise. But then came the 1991 copyright case Grand Upright Music, Ltd v. Warner Bros. Records Inc., which found that Biz’s song “Alone Again” (from his album I Need a Haircut) had infringed upon singer/songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan’s copyright by sampling from his song “Alone Again (Naturally).” The entire hip hop industry was affected by this ruling, and Biz in particular: his rep and sales were permanently damaged. These days, Biz’s extracurriculars are as eclectic as his beats: he’s appeared on the kid’s show Yo Gabba Gabba, parodied himself in Men in Black II, dropped weight on Celebrity Fit Club, and provided voiceovers for Adventure Time. He even partnered with LivingSocial in 2012 to teach a class on healthy cooking. Energetic, earnest, and ever so charming, Biz Markie is a warm-hearted reminder of just how fun hip hop used to be before violence, sex, and materialism changed the genre.

Tucker Cummings is a writer whose projects include The Strange Adventures of Margery Jones, a 365-part fiction serial about parallel universes. She also has a microfiction piece featured in The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities. Hers was the winning story in HiLobrow's kooky-spooky fiction contest.

HiLoBooks has rediscovered 10 lost classics from science fiction's Radium Age (1904–33) era. A gorgeous paperback series — collect them all while you can!

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NEW! Coauthored by HiLobrow's Joshua Glenn. "Dozens of recommendations for games and apps to check out, plus ideas for how to 'hack' said games to keep them fresh." — Publishers Weekly | "Readers both young and old will find something appealing here, as there is a game or activity to fit every mood and every game-playing preference." — Library Journal